Pakistan rejects PM Modi’s remarks about Kashmir during public rally in Gujarat
BANI BRATA DATTA, EDITOR
Pakistan on Tuesday categorically rejected the claims made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in Gujarat, saying that his ‘resolved Kashmir issue’ remark shows how oblivious the Indian leadership is of the ground realities in the region. Pakistan also stated that the remark is misleading and false.
“Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute, the resolution of which has been on the agenda of the United Nations since 1948,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement.
“Instead of making delusional statements about having resolved the dispute unilaterally, the Indian leadership must deliver on their commitments to the Kashmiris and to the world and ensure that the people of Kashmir are accorded their inalienable right to self-determination,” it said.
PM Modi’s statement at Gujarat rally
A day earlier while addressing a public rally in Gujarat’s Anand district, PM Modi had stated that he had been successful in resolving the issue of Kashmir.
Modi stated that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel deftly resolved issues related to the merger of other princely states, but “one person” could not settle the Kashmir issue.
“As I am following the footsteps of Sardar saheb, I have values of the land of Sardar and that was the reason I resolved the problem of Kashmir and paid true tributes to Sardar Patel,” Modi said.
What is ‘the Kashmir issue’?
Relations between India and Pakistan have been strained over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Bilateral ties nosedived after India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the State into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019.
Following India’s decision, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian envoy. Trade ties between Pakistan and India have largely been frozen since then.
India has repeatedly told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and shall forever” remain an integral part of the country. India has said it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence.
